


don't be afraid, just believe

by TsingaDark



Series: Spooky Month [5]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Ambiguous/Open Ending, First Meetings, M/M, Strangers to Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-07 17:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12237438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsingaDark/pseuds/TsingaDark
Summary: There was a rumour on campus that someone had died in the East Wing and had been haunting it ever since. Dan, for his part, thought it was utter crap. Even if someone had died there - which he highly doubted - they would not be haunting that place because ghosts didn't even exist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of Spooky Month!! I've been planning this for quite a while (since April or May?? can't remember), but I can't promise that there's always gonna be a fic when promised bc I procrastinate a lot.
> 
> originally, I wanted to post a phanfic every other day but then I got sucked into the k-pop black hole so there will be a new phanfic/chapter every 4 days (and a Jikook fic inbetween, if anyone's interested in that). this means that the next chapter of this will be posted on the 5th. (oh, and there's probably gonna be a new fic every day in the week leading up to Halloween, just like last year)
> 
> also, if there's anyone who wants to beta read the spooky month fics for me, feel free to message me, I'd be forever grateful (please keep in mind though that a lot of the fics have a darker theme).
> 
> these notes are gonna be so long, but anyway, I've planned everything (for the most part) but if there's anything you'd like to see me write for spooky month, let me know. can't promise I'll actually write it though

There was a rumour on campus that someone had died in the East Wing and had been haunting it ever since. Dan, for his part, thought it was utter crap. Even if someone had died there - which he highly doubted - they would not be haunting that place because ghosts didn't even exist. 

Unfortunately, not everyone was of that opinion, and even more unfortunate, one of Dan’s fellow students and friends, believed the rumour to be true. Whenever one of them had to venture near the East Wing - which wasn’t often since it was the oldest building on campus and hardly anyone had classes there anymore - PJ would get excited, probably hoping that someone would finally confirm his suspicions. Obviously, that never happened.

Nevertheless, every damn time Dan had his English Linguistics class there on Fridays, PJ insisted on coming with him. At the beginning, he’d used a different excuse every time as to why he needed to accompany Dan, but at this point he didn’t even try to hide his excitement for the non-existing ghost anymore. It always ended in disappointment, and this day was no difference. As soon as they’d arrived at Dan’s classroom, PJ’s smile had morphed into a frown. It made Dan feel like he was personally responsible for PJ’s sour mood, but it wasn’t like he’d exorcised the ghost that didn’t even  _ exist _ . 

“You know that this ghost haunting East Wing is just a  _ rumour _ , right?” Dan asked, for about the millionth time this semester. 

“Duh,” PJ replied, still looking disappointed. “I bet it only shows itself at night!”

“Whatever makes you happy,” Dan said, rolling his eyes. If PJ wanted to believe that rather than the truth, he was perfectly okay with it. At least as long as that meant PJ would stop annoying him with it and let him go to class in peace and quiet. 

“Right, class is about to start,” Dan said, looking at PJ and raising his eyebrow. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna follow you inside.”

“Good,” Dan replied with emphasis. “Suffering through English Linguistics is not worth it for a ghost that doesn’t even exist.”

PJ sighed at that. “It does exist, Dan,” he said, sounding exasperated.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later.” With those words, he turned around and walked towards the room at the end of the corridor. 

“You have to  _ believe _ , Dan!” PJ shouted after him, his voice high-pitched and exaggerated. Dan flipped him off without turning around. If PJ wanted to believe in this stupid rumour, he could, but he’d never convince Dan. Ghosts didn’t exist, simple as that.

 

***

 

Dan wanted to rip his hair out. If there was one field of study in the English language that he absolutely hated, it was English linguistics. He couldn’t hear the words phoneme, morpheme or allomorph without wanting to dive out of the nearest window. And if that hadn’t been enough, the fact that his class started at 6pm and therefore ended at 8pm capped it all off. 

It was dark by the time he left the classroom, everyone else already gone since the professor had wanted to talk about his participation in class, which, frankly, was basically nonexistent. It was a good thing that he was charming enough to have been able to talk his professor into letting him prepare a presentation instead of getting kicked out of class. 

Despite hating having to use the bathroom in this particular building because it was in the basement, which was arranged like a fucking  _ maze _ , he shuffled down the stairs. Most of the overhead lights weren’t working anymore, plunging the corridors into a semi-darkness that made Dan’s skin crawl. 

He just wanted to go home at this point, but he was almost there, so he continued, trying not to pay too much attention to the ominous shadows everywhere. 

He finally arrived at the bathroom and hurriedly made his way inside a stall. Even though he was pretty sure that he was the last person in the building, he didn’t want to run the risk of his professor seeing his dick after he’d just managed to get a second chance. That was honestly the last thing Dan needed right now. After he was finished, he pushed open the door, stepping outside and coming to an abrupt halt as he looked up.

There was a guy, probably around Dan’s age, casually leaning against one of the sinks. His bright yellow adventure time hoodie seemed out of place in the dingy bathroom. In a different situation and in a different setting, he probably wouldn’t have looked as intimidating, but at this moment, Dan was scared as hell by him.

“Oh God,” he said, dumbfounded, and stayed exactly where he was. He didn’t know what this guy’s game was, but this way Dan had a chance of fleeing back into the stall at least. 

“Hi,” the guy said, suddenly smiling brightly, like he hadn’t expected Dan to acknowledge him. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“Er, you didn’t,” Dan lied, still making no move towards the sinks. 

“Good!” the guy exclaimed excitedly. 

Dan kind of had the suspicion that he might be on drugs. Why else would he sneak up on people in the bathroom of all places?

“I’m Phil, by the way,” the guy, well, Phil apparently, said after a short pause, holding his hand out for Dan to shake.

“Er,” Dan said unintelligible. What the fuck? “I’m Dan.” 

Phil was still holding out his hand for Dan, a hopeful expression on his face. Didn’t he know that it was considered weird for people their age to shake hands with each other?

“I should probably…,” Dan trailed off, gesturing towards the sink Phil was leaning on.

“Ohh, right.” Phil hurriedly pushed himself away to leave enough room for Dan to wash his hands. “Sorry.”

Dan felt strangely watched as he he let his backpack slip to the ground and quickly lathered his hands, and a short look in the mirror told him that Phil was indeed watching him. It was a bit unnerving, to say the least. Didn’t that guy have any manners?

“Are you here often?” Phil asked, as Dan unsuccessfully tried to get enough paper towels out of the rusty dispenser to dry his hands. He looked eager to hear Dan’s answer.

“Um,” Dan said, turning around. “You mean, er, in the bathroom?”

Why did this guy want to make further conversation? Didn’t he realise how weird this situation was - talking to Dan after he’d just used the loo? Unless he was sweet-talking Dan so he wouldn’t struggle too much when Phil would inevitably kill him.

“Uh, I guess?” Phil replied, shoving his hands into the front pocket of his jeans. He suddenly appeared to be a bit embarrassed. 

“Not really.” Dan would probably never use this bathroom again after this strange encounter. Being alone in the basement of this old building on a Friday night when the sun had set long ago? Definitely not Dan’s idea of a happy place.

“Oh,” Phil said, sounding crestfallen. The smile he’d regarded Dan with earlier was gone.

“I, uh, I have a seminar in room 15 every Friday,” Dan blurted out before he could properly think about it. He didn’t know why, but seeing this guy so down made him feel incredibly guilty. Maybe that was his strategy. Get people to feel sorry for him so they’d happily get killed by him to make him happy again.

“Oh, are you in Dr Lang’s class on English Linguistics?” Phil asked eagerly, stepping closer to Dan. For once, Dan didn’t feel more intimidated. 

“Yeah, I am.” 

Phil wasn’t in his class, was he? Dan would have to be seriously inattentive not to have noticed him there before. Especially considering there were only, like, twenty other people in his class.

“I was in his class a few years ago. I actually fell asleep every other week, it was really boring,” Phil said, causing Dan to breathe out a sigh of relief. Not only did that mean that Phil was probably not out to kill him, it also meant that they were on the same page regarding Dr Lang.

“Thank fuck I’m not the only one. Everyone else always keeps raving on about him, like he  _ invented  _ linguistics or some shit.” 

Phil snickered at that. “I can see why that would be annoying.” 

“So, what do you study?” Dan asked cautiously. He was still a bit wary of Phil, despite his non-intimidating outward appearance.

“I’m doing a Masters in Video Postproduction,” Phil replied, smiling widely.

“Seriously?” Dan couldn’t help but gape at him. Honestly, he hadn’t even known that a masters programme like that even existed. Maybe that was something he could consider for after he’d actually finished his bachelor?

Phil bounced on the balls of his feet. “Yep. It’s amazing. I’m actually forced to sit in a basement all day long. I don’t even need to go outside most of the time.”

“God, that sounds like a dream,” Dan said wistfully, making Phil chuckle. “I wish I could say the same.”

“I could show you the project we’re working on, if you want?” Phil suggested carefully. “Not right now, obviously, I’m sure you’re eager to get home, but another time?”

“Yes,” Dan replied quickly, not quite caring if he came across as too enthusiastic. Not only did this video postproduction business sound bloody amazing, Phil also seemed pretty interesting, despite having come across like a serial killer earlier. To be honest, he was probably just socially awkward, like Dan most of the time.

“Cool,” Phil replied calmly, but the way he was grinning wildly gave away how happy he was about Dan’s answer. “Maybe next week after class?”

Dan nodded. “Sure.” 

After a moment of silence in which they both grinned at each other, Dan finally excused himself, saying that he needed to get going, otherwise his roommate would probably think he’d been eaten by the giant rats living in the sewers around here, which made Phil laugh loudly. 

As Dan climbed back up the stairs and stepped outside the old building that looked like it was about to collapse more and more each day, he couldn’t help but think that while he hadn’t met the ghost PJ was so obsessed with, he’d got to know someone even more interesting. 


	2. Chapter 2

Even though Dan had arrived home late, he totally forgot to tell PJ about Phil. To be honest, it was probably down to him complaining about Dr Lang at length and the fact that another episode of American Horror Story had aired the night before, which he was dying to watch. And despite the fact that his thoughts kept returning to Phil regularly - honestly, now that Dan was about ninety percent sure he wasn’t a murderer, he was able to appreciate the way Phil had looked, which was very attractive to say the least - he always forgot as soon as he and PJ spent time together. Which, of course, caused him to forget to tell PJ that he was staying late after class on Friday, meeting up with Phil.

“I never even asked you what course you’re doing,” Phil said as he led Dan to the room where he did most of his editing. Dan should’ve suspected that the university would put the Postproduction students somewhere no one else would want to spend an extended amount of time - in the basement of the East Wing.

“Oh, I’m doing an English language degree,” Dan answered, staring at Phil’s profile. He was pleased to see that he hadn’t imagined Phil’s handsomeness. 

“That’s cool,” Phil answered, probably out of politeness. Not even Dan thought it was ‘cool’, but he hadn’t known what else to do after school and English had seemed like the least shitty course. “Do you know what you want to do after?”

“Not really,” Dan admitted. A many restless nights had been spent thinking about exactly that but Dan still hadn’t been able to come up with a plan for his future that didn’t make him want to jump out of a window. “I’ve always wanted to travel, but I don’t think it’s very probable.”

“Why not?” Phil turned to him with a questioning look. 

Dan scoffed. “Because that would require money? Which I don’t have. Also, I don’t think it would look very good on my CV if I went travelling after finishing my degree instead of starting to work.”

“Who cares?” Phil said, taking Dan aback. For a moment, he didn’t even know what to say. He’d kind of expected Phil to agree with him. 

“What?” he asked dumbfounded.

“I know it’s probably not my place to say this,” Phil started carefully, but Dan could hear determination in his voice. “But who cares what other people think? It’s your life, you should do with it what you want while you can. Don’t let yourself be pressured into some kind of job you hate. It’ll make you miserable. You only have one life, don’t waste it.”

“Oh, I, thank you,” Dan said, amazed at how true Phil’s words rang. Dan had always done what other people expected of him, what society expected of him. And even though Phil was someone he hardly knew, his words meant a lot to Dan. Knowing that there was at least one person who didn’t believe in all of that made Dan want to actually try and pursue his dreams.

“We’re here,” Phil said suddenly, as they arrived in front of a room with a crappy sheet of paper stuck to it with sellotape, which said  _ batcave _ .

Dan couldn’t help but snort quietly at that. “Who came up with that name?” 

Phil sighed. “Chris. He used to change it every week because he was never satisfied with it, but somehow this name stuck.”

“It’s cool.” To be honest, it was more than cool. Especially when Phil opened the door and led Dan inside. Well, to anyone else it might’ve looked like a dusty room with computers from the last century, but to Dan it was the best place imaginable.

“Wow,” he breathed, hearing Phil chuckle next to him. 

“It’s not the most comfortable,” he said with a shrug, “but over the last few years it’s become home.”

Dan didn’t even listen to Phil properly, mesmerised by all the camera equipment lying around. Now more than ever he wanted so badly to get into that master’s course. 

“Do you film the stuff you edit, too?” he asked eagerly, his hand fluttering over a relatively small camera that had gathered a hefty layer of dust. It probably didn’t even work anymore if it had been lying around that long, but he was afraid he’d break something.

“Yep.” Phil walked to a nearby computer and switched it on. The fan coming to life sounded a bit like the computer had a difficult time not dying at the booting up process alone. “The computers are pretty crap, but they work well enough for editing,” Phil explained.

“Wow,” Dan said again. He was quite glad Phil had stalked him in the bathroom a week ago, otherwise he never would’ve got to see this. 

Phil offered him a chair and together they sat down in front of the computer, the metal backrest of the chair uncomfortably digging into Dan’s spine, but he was too excited to properly notice when Phil bumped their shoulders together. After a few minutes, the computer had finally booted up and Phil opened a folder with several video files. Only after he’d clicked on a different file, opening the video editing software, Dan became aware of the year that had been listed behind all those files.

“2014?” he asked before he could properly think about it. Instantly, there was this queasy feeling in his stomach. Was Phil really who he said he was?

For a moment, Phil froze, but then he turned to Dan with a smile. “Yeah, this is one of our older projects. We never finished it because we had a better idea but I remembered it a while ago and thought I could finish it now. It’s sad to see the material unused, especially because we’d already filmed everything for it.”

“Ah.” Dan breathed a sigh of relief. In the now open editing software he could see all sorts of tiny clips, and in the preview window he managed to recognise Phil, even though he’d turned his back to the camera. 

Phil proceeded to show Dan what he had edited so far, and Dan was amazed to say the least. Phil was really good at editing, well, considering that he was probably doing this sort of thing every day, it wasn’t actually that surprising, but still, he had a knack for it.

Phil also showed Dan how to use the programme - well, the easier functions - and let him edit a few clips. They even turned out quite well, if Phil was to be believed, which made Dan incredibly happy. He couldn’t believe that he’d been so lucky to meet Phil. Even if he didn’t manage to get into the master’s course, he’d still managed to make a new friend, someone who’d instantly believed in him. And well, maybe Phil could even become more than that.

“Hey,” Dan said after a while, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Phil and he had been sitting there for a while, having moved on from editing to music and discovering that they basically had the same taste, especially when it came to Muse and Fall Out Boy. 

“Uh, would you like to go for coffee, um, with me?” he mumbled, the queasy feeling in his stomach returning but for a completely different reason.

“Oh, I can’t.” 

Dan’s heart sank. “Oh, that’s, that’s fine,” he said quickly, trying to cover up the fact that he was incredibly embarrassed and possibly feeling a bit miserable at Phil’s rejection. “I, sorry.” 

God, what had he been thinking? Phil probably wasn’t even into guys. And even if, he was way out of Dan’s league anyway.

“No, it’s not-” Phil cut himself off, running a hand through his hair. “I’d love to go for coffee with you,” he said finally, his voice soft. “I just can’t right now. I still have a ton of projects to finish.”

“Oh, okay,” Dan said stupidly. At least that meant that he hadn’t read all the signs incorrectly. Phil was just busy, that was all.

“Another time?” 

“Yeah, I, yeah, sounds good,” Dan stumbled over the words. He smiled shyly at Phil, who softly smiled back at him, making Dan feel like his stomach was doing a somersault. He’d never been happier to have that boring English linguistics class.

 

***

 

Dan and Phil meeting after class on fridays became a habit. It wasn’t even until several weeks into that tradition that Dan realised he still hadn’t told PJ why he came home increasingly late every time. To be fair though, PJ probably thought that Dan simply managed to miss the bus everytime because that happened a lot to him anyway, or that Dan was working on a project with his classmates. 

It happened when Dan was sitting in the kitchen, watching PJ make some kind of stir-fry with whatever they’d had left. He’d been making a point about the music, which he liked to listen to, being more popular than PJ thought, because obviously there were people other than Dan liking the same music, like Phil for example, when PJ stopped, slowly turning around and staring at Dan.

“Phil?” he asked. Dan was unable to make out what the underlying tone in his voice implied, but he was pretty sure it couldn’t be good.

“Uh, yeah?” he cautiously replied. 

“Which Phil?” PJ turned around again, but only partly so he could still look at Dan.

“Um, Phil who does a Video Postproduction master?” Dan said, because,  _ surely _ , he had mentioned Phil before?

“You do realise I have no idea who that is, right?”

“Er,” Dan said stupidly. Had he actually managed to not even mention Phil once for the past few weeks? How was that even possible?

“He’s a guy I met after my linguistics class,” Dan explained. “We hang out sometimes.”

Suddenly, PJ started laughing. “He’s a  _ guy _ you  _ hang out _ with sometimes?” 

“Er, yeah?” Dan tried to ignore the implications PJ was making. Sure, Dan had asked Phil out on a date that one time but apart from that nothing had happened. Well, apart from their constant flirting. But Phil still hadn’t taken Dan up on that offer for coffee. 

“Right,” PJ said, sounding entirely unconvinced. 

“You know you can tell me, right?” he added then, fully turning around to focus on the stir-fry. Dan could tell how upset he was at the thought of Dan not wanting to confide in him. 

“I know,” he said softly. “I swear, nothing’s happened. But I’d tell you as soon as something would, okay? I wouldn’t be able to keep that to myself anyway, you  _ know _ I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, I know,” PJ said, this time sounding genuine. They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments after Dan had finally picked out some songs for a new playlist, which he put on shuffle.

“How did you two meet anyway?” PJ asked when he’d transferred the stir-fry onto two plates and they’d sat down to eat.

“He kind of snuck up on me in the toilet,” Dan said before he could think about it. 

“So he basically forced you into that thing you have?” PJ laughed. 

“Well,” Dan started. It did sound kind of weird the way Dan had said that. No, scratch that; it  _ had _ been weird. “No, he just started a conversation when we were both in the bathroom and he promised to show me what he’s working on for his masters.” Dan decided to leave out the part where he’d thought that Phil’d been about to murder him.

“You do realise that sounds really weird, right?” 

Dan raised an eyebrow at that. “Says the person who believes there’s a ghost haunting East Wing.”

“Speaking of,” PJ exclaimed loudly, his chair scraping over the ground noisily as he got up and quickly left the room. When he came back, he was holding his tablet. “I did a little bit of research. Turns out I was right,” he said smugly. Dan only rolled his eyes in response.

“Someone  _ did _ die there-”

“Wow, you sure feel happy about someone’s death,” Dan interrupted him.

“Shut up, you non-believer,” PJ said, pointing at Dan and making him laugh. “Anyway,  _ apparently _ , a student died there three years ago. I couldn’t find out exactly how he died, I’m guessing his family didn’t want that sort of information to be available to everyone. But if my source is correct, it happened in the basement of East Wing, which is one of the reasons why they don’t really use that part anymore. Must’ve been a pretty horrible accident.”

“In the basement?” Dan repeated, suddenly feeling cold all over. He’d been there without knowing about the accident; he could’ve been in the exact place that student had died. That notion horrified him. As much as loved the batcave, he might have to ask Phil if they could go someplace else next time.

“Yeah. Apparently they didn’t even find him for a while,” PJ said, looking more excited about this death than he probably should be. “Pretty gruesome, huh?”

“Yeah, I, wow,” Dan mumbled. 

“There’s even a picture of him. Here,” PJ said while turning around the tablet and sliding it over to Dan. To be completely honest, Dan didn’t even want to look at the picture. Knowing what the student had looked like would probably give him very realistic dreams of his death, and that was not really something Dan longed for. He couldn’t help but look anyway. 

At first glance, all he could see was black hair and blue eyes, but then he properly looked at the picture and immediately froze. Staring back at him from PJ’s tablet was Phil. Phil, whom he had met in the basement of East Wing, whom he had never even seen there before, who was working on a project from 2014 and who hadn’t left the basement whenever Dan had been there.

He could distantly hear PJ say his name but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the picture. How was this even possible? 

When PJ started shaking his arm, Dan finally looked at him. “PJ.”

“Jesus, Dan, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he tried to joke, but his voice was shaking slightly.

“PJ,” Dan repeated, pointing at the picture. “That’s Phil.”

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](https://tsingadark.tumblr.com/)


End file.
